Retro Fantasy Booking: Wrestlemania XL – The Finishing of the Stories

Wrestlemania XL was a blockbuster even that I got the pleasure to go and witness live in the awfully cold city of Philadelphia. It was a banger of a show, in my opinion the best Wrestlemania of all time though I admit I could be biased in my beliefs. Here is the card:

A stacked card full of greatness, it is a show I thoroughly love watching and I don’t know how I am supposed to top it. Anyways, let’s have a go shall we? WWE, this is how I would do it.

A New Championship

Kevin Owens left Wrestlemania 39 as the new US champion, I’d give him a nice solid run with the belt but ultimately losing the championship in a handicap match to Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. Theory did all of the heavy lifting, but Waller got the tag at the last second and he was the one to pin Owens and win the title officially.

Waller does show his appreciation though and he gives the US title for Theory to hold and recognised as the unofficial United States champion. That is because Grayson Waller introduces his own custom designed Australian World Championship. He calls it the most prestigious championship in wrestling and no one else deserves to hold it other than him. Waller tries his best to avoid defending the title the best he can and he manages to hold on to the gold from around Summerslam 2023 all the way to Wrestlemania XL.

Crowning Achievement

After ducking various challengers, Adam Pearce forces him to defend the championship in a ladder match. Since Theory is being unofficially acknowledged as the US champion, he is added to the match. Also involved are Andrade, Bronson Reed, Sami Zayn, Xavier Woods and Mr Money in the Bank…Finn Balor. R-Truth surprises Waller with a roll-up backstage on Smackdown and pins him, though no referee or match is taking place.

He celebrates, thinking he has won the 24/7 championship and he steals the Australian championship. Truth refuses to return it, believing he won it fair and square, so Pearce adds him into the ladder match too. This 8-man match is your usual chaos. Both Waller and Theory have a moment where they could have won the match but are screwed over by their own partner. Eventually, it is Xavier Woods who finally gets the moment he deserves, winning a singles championship in WWE.

Bloodline Cracks

Since the Uso’s and Solo Sikoa lost their championships at Wrestlemania 39, cracks have been starting to show within the Bloodline. Roman demands that they all prove they are worthy of being under his leadership. Reigns lets off Solo lightly since he is inexperienced and a rookie, but he demands better from the Uso’s. Reigns puts them in tough matches and wears them down physically and mentally.

Eventually, Jimmy Uso passes the trials and is welcomed with an embrace by Roman, but Jey Uso is not. Roman ridicules Jey for being a complete loser and an embarrassment to the family. Jey has had enough and he drops Roman with a superkick. He drops Solo too. Jimmy Uso does not go after Jey and lets him go. Jey manages to get a brand swap deal to stay away from the Bloodline. Roman tells Jimmy and Solo to forget about Jey and focus on recapturing gold.

R-KO

He declares Solo as his right hand man and puts him in charge of Jimmy Uso and maintaining order in the Bloodline when he is not around. Jimmy does not like Solo constantly bossing him around, but he stays in line. They win the recently rebranded WWE World Tag Championships at Crown Jewel to once again bring back tag gold to the Bloodline. At Survivor Series, Randy Orton makes his return to help team Rhodes defeat the Judgement Day. Although they feuded a couple of years ago, Randy Orton and Kevin Owens seemingly bury the hatchet and form a friendship.

Randy Orton fails to win the WWE championship at the Royal Rumble thanks to Bloodline interference. Owens resumes his feud with the Bloodline, allying with Orton to join the fight against the Bloodline. R-KO challenge Jimmy and Solo for the championships at Wrestlemania XL. The competitive match ends with a Stunner into an RKO, Jimmy Uso is pinned. Solo Sikoa is furious and chews out Jimmy Uso. Now Jimmy has had enough, he turns around and nails Solo with a superkick.

Custody Battle

Rey Mysterio allies with Legado Del Fantasma to form the LWO. Zelina Vega and Carlito also join the stable later down the line. Rey blames the Judgement Day for corrupting his son and he wants them to set him free. They say he makes his own decisions. Rey Mysterio questions that. Heading into Summerslam we have a big ladder match, 18 years after the first of its kind. Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest & Finn Balor team up to take on Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar & Zelina Vega in a ‘custody of Dominik Mysterio’ ladder match. In the finish, Dominik Mysterio comes out and helps his father up.

It looks like he is helping his father up the ladder to the case, but Dom stops him and he rips off his dad’s mask, pushing him off the ladder. Dom lets his Mami make the climb up the ladder and officially claim ownership of her ‘little Dom Dom’. Rey takes some time off, calling this an incredibly hard time for him and his family personally. Dominik Mysterio starts wearing Rey’s mask and mocking his family. At the Royal Rumble, Rey makes his return and eliminates Dom.

The End.

Rey says he has had to separate the man from his son, and this man has disrespected his family and his legacy. Dominik wants to go around calling himself the greatest Luchador of all time? Then let’s prove it. Rey challenges Dom to a traditional Lucha de Apeustas match at Wrestlemania XL. Rey’s mask vs Dom’s hair. Rey confirms that win or lose, this will be his final wrestling match, he always wanted to end his career wrestling his son, he just hoped that the circumstances were different. Dominik looks forward to sending his dad into retirement.

He pre-emptively dedicates his win to the only father figure he ever had, Eddie Guerrero. The battle of father and son is a personal one and Rey looks to have the match won, but there is a moment of weakness as Rey looks at the sadness in his son’s eyes. Dom uses this and surprises Rey with a low blow, he hits the Frog splash for a near fall. Dominik hits the ‘Drop Tha Dime’ a springboard leg drop which was an old finisher of Rey Mysterio and Dom pins his dad. Dom rips off Rey’s mask and stamps it into the ground before leaving. Rey says his goodbyes and soaks in the adulation of the WWE crowd before leaving.

Asuka & Kairi Sane end up joining Damage CTRL and winning the women’s tag championships. They have a trio of challengers ahead of Wrestlemania and the Kabuki Warriors are happy to take them all on. At Wrestlemania XL, the Kabuki Warriors defeat Katana Chance & Kayden Carter, Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark and The Way to retain their titles.

Reparations

After moving brands, Jey Uso aligns with Cody Rhodes and other faces on Raw and he tries to turn over a new leaf for himself away from the Bloodline. A few members of the roster are hesitant and refuse to accept Jey has changed. One of those people is Seth Rollins. Rollins won the heavyweight championship from Edge at Money in the Bank and he holds it all the way until Royal Rumble 2024, where he drops the title to Drew McIntyre. Rollins tells Jey that he can’t just walk around like a changed man as if he hasn’t caused a lot of pain and stress for everyone around here for the last 3-4 years.

Jey has to be held accountable for his actions. Jey says he does hold himself accountable, he is trying to be a better man but that starts with forgiving yourself and being willing to change. Jey doesn’t care if Rollins doesn’t like him, because Jey knows he is trying to be better. This sets up a match at Wrestlemania. They wrestle a great 15-20 minute match, Jey Uso getting a monumental win at Wrestlemania XL. After the match, Rollins refuses to shake Jey’s hand but acknowledges his valiant performance.

Dream Match

Simple enough, Becky Lynch wins Elimination Chamber but she actually faces Iyo Sky, who won the WWE Women’s championship after cashing in the MITB briefcase. Bayley remains the leader of the Damage CTRL, but Iyo is starting to question whether she deserves to be leader. The disagreements between the two members grow increasingly more intense.

Asuka and Kairi side with Iyo but Dakota still supports Bayley as leader. They agree that whoever walks out of Wrestlemania XL with a world championship will be acknowledged as the leader. If they’re both the champions then they will have to agree to be co-leaders. Becky Lynch and Iyo Sky wrestle a competitive 20 minute match, Damage CTRL get involved and Bayley inadvertently causes a distraction allowing Becky Lynch to defeat Iyo for the championship.

Family

After The Rock returned at Wrestlemania 39 to help Roman Reigns retain the WWE championship, he acknowledges Roman Reigns as the Tribal Chief. He also tells Roman Reigns that it is time that they have the biggest wrestling match in history. Almost a year in advance, they book The Rock vs Roman Reigns, whether Roman is champion or not. Over the course of the year as Roman retains his title by any means necessary, The Rock questions if Roman is going to be able to lead this family for much longer.

Roman warns him not to insult the Tribal Chief. After Cody Rhodes wins the Rumble, he challenges Roman Reigns, disregarding the plans for The Rock vs Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns says he can defeat The Rock and Cody Rhodes at Wrestlemania XL and he will wrestle on both night 1 and night 2. The Rock questions this decision and he has a private word with Solo Sikoa.

The Rock and Roman Reigns sign an agreement that their match is going to be between them only, a contest between the two leading members of the family. In the main event of night one at Wrestlemania XL, The Rock and Roman Reigns have their dream match. After a near 30 minute war, Roman Reigns defeats The Rock with a spear and wins the match. Afterwards, The Rock puts the Ula Fala and the WWE championship around Roman’s waist and raises his hand high.

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Night 2

Rhea Ripley had held the redesigned and renamed Women’s World championship ever since she won it back at Wrestlemania 39. Bayley wins the Royal Rumble and decides to go after Mami to try and dethrone her from the top, as well as prove she deserves to be the leader of Damage CTRL. Bayley gives it her all in this 20 minute opener, but Mami is far too strong and dominant and she retains her championship. No one in Damage CTRL walked out with a world championship.

The Judgement Day members Damian Priest & JD McDonagh do not really get along, but they are forced to as they end up winning the recently renamed and redesigned World Tag Team Championships. The Street Profits win a tag gauntlet to earn a shot of their championships. They wrestle a good match, Priest & JD retain the titles keeping the gold in the Judgement Day.

Gunther continues his run of dominance in WWE and becomes the longest reigning IC champion of all time. His story pretty much plays out the same, but at Wrestlemania XL the person who should have been the one to step up and slay the Ring General should be Chad Gable. Gable has his Rocky moment, overcoming Gunther in a classic at Wrestlemania and finally winning his first singles championship in WWE.

Night 2 Continued

There will still be a Philly Street Fight featuring The Final Testament but I would have their opponents be The OC. Karrion Kross tries to manipulate the veteran AJ Styles to embrace his true potential and join his stable, leaving behind Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. This 8-person street fight also features Michin and Scarlett. After a fun hardcore brawl, The OC get the win.

After their confrontation at the Royal Rumble. Both Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair recognise each other as dream opponents. With a level of respect for one another, they agree to a mega match between each other at Wrestlemania. I think Bianca is a great opponent to help the greener Jade through to a great match. Jade Cargill wins her first singles match in WWE with Jaded. Bianca and her shake hands after the match.

YEAH!!!

After Drew McIntyre’s slow heel turn, he wins the Heavyweight championship at Royal Rumble. Drew says he will finally get the moment he deserves at Wrestlemania, walking in as world champion and he will walk out as the champion. His opponent will be the Royal Rumble winner, LA Knight. McIntyre is more focused on insulting the injured CM Punk whenever he can. We do not hear or see CM Punk after he reveals his injury after the Rumble. At Wrestlemania, Drew and Knight only wrestle for 10+ minutes when Drew is setting up for the Claymore, then we hear CM Punk’s music play, causing a distraction for Knight to hit Drew with the BFT to win the championship.

Unfortunately for Knight, it doesn’t go to plan. Drew McIntyre beats up Knight afterwards with a chair. We hear the Judgement Day music and Finn Balor comes down to cash in his MITB briefcase and win his second world championship in WWE. We can have LA Knight and Finn Balor have a feud for the majority of 2024 after this.

Finishing The Story

Cody Rhodes wins the Rumble and sets up a date with destiny to finally achieve his goal and finish the story of being the WWE champion. He has to overcome the odds of the Bloodline and The Rock who tries to take him out ahead of Wrestlemania, but Cody does not falter. It helps that Cody gains some allies on the way. The final main event pretty much plays out as expected between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes.

A slow build, 40+ minute match with great wrestling and surprises. Solo Sikoa comes out and helps Roman Reigns, then Jey Uso comes out to help Cody Rhodes. Jey and Solo get into an intense back and forth, bringing out Jimmy Uso who stares down his brother but then the Uso’s reunite to take out Solo. Roman Reigns takes out both of the Uso’s.

The Rock comes out to help Roman, John Cena comes out to help Rhodes but he is taken out, Seth Rollins comes out to help but he is taken out. The Undertaker returns and takes out the Rock. Roman Reigns chooses to get revenge over Seth for the Shield break up and it costs him, being caught in 3 Cross Rhodes and losing the match.

Final Wrestlemania XL Card

That is the end of my Wrestlemania rebooking series, it was a slog but we reached the end. I think my earlier bookings were better personally. If you missed any, follow this link to see the whole collection!